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The case deals with comparison of two events namely Bhopal Gas Tragedy and BP Oil Spill Tragedy. Specifically, the case compares the negotiation process and its outcome. In other words, the case compares how negotiation was carried out on behalf of victims of these tragedies and resulted in optimal outcomes in one situation and sub-optimal outcomes in another situation. It case also provides insights into cross-cultural issues in negotiation process as one of the events took place in emerging economy (India) and other one in a developed economy (USA). The case gives insight for individuals on how handle communication process during the course of negotiation.

While preparing a financial forecast, the newly promoted CFO of a small and profitable but financially constrained ready-mix concrete company must choose between renegotiating debt obligations, postponing long overdue capital improvements that will prevent more costly future repairs, or reducing the dividend payment to a parent company that just recently purchased the firm.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to understand the management styles and motivations of SME founders; to understand how SMEs innovate with limited resources; to develop and evaluate technology and platform options to solve operational and business model issues; to build a transforming strategy by leveraging technology; and to understand the agricultural industry and its significance to emerging economies.

The case is about a Small and Medium Enterprise in India that focussed on the agricultural sector. The company was owner operated and highly successful. As a result, the owner decided to maintain status quo till the COVID-19 crisis forced the company to relook at its strategy and innovate for the second time in its history.

MBA.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The chairman and CEO of the Genzyme Corporation, one of the country's top five biotechnology firms, has received a phone call requesting a meeting with the cofounder and principal of a large activist investment fund that now has a 2.6% stake in his company. Before meeting with him, the CEO is aware that he needs a strategy for dealing with this “activist” investor with a track record of forcing out CEOs.

ESPE, the market leader, is a medium-sized German manufacturer of precision dental impression materials competing in a shrinking market. To grow the business, ESPE invests substantial resources in innovative impression materials and associated distribution mechanisms. Squeezed by the shrinking market, the competition is increasingly using the proprietary channels (dispensing mechanisms) and brand equity (trademark) of ESPE to maintain their market share. There is a potential infringement. Explores how ESPE is organized to execute on the options imbedded in its IP rights.

To provide students with an understanding of how to use brands and trademarks in conjunction with trade secrets, patents, and other forms of IP in mature markets to build and maintain innovation-based competitive advantage.

This case is suitable for graduate-level quantitative analysis, business and government, environment and sustainability, and global economics courses. Students must consider the tradeoffs between continuing to run an old coal-burning plant and purchasing emissions allowances (EAs) versus upgrading to emissions-reducing wet or dry scrubbers. Reducing emissions creates the possibility of selling the plant's surplus EAs (which are likely to increase in price). Choosing a wet or dry scrubber requires considering installation cost and construction time, variable cost, and SO2 removal efficiency. Ideally, the investment should pay back over time, but management believes some net investment could also be justified. For that, however, complete analyses from both economic and environmental perspectives are required. A supplemental spreadsheet is available to accompany the case (UVA-QA-0726X).

Upon completion of the case study, the students will be able to analyze the brand equity construct through the associative neural network model for decision-making; identify prospective scenarios through the Delphi method for the construction of strategic plans in organizations; and propose the innovation of a product by applying creativity techniques to enter international markets.

Cafe Galavis was one of the leading family businesses in industrial development and had the highest business recognition, with a century of experience in producing and commercializing roasted and ground coffee in Cucuta, Colombia. In 2015, the diplomatic crisis between the governments of Colombia and Venezuela led to the indefinite closure of the Colombian–Venezuelan border, which caused an increase in income from smuggled coffee. In addition, the presence of different competitors and traditional brands negatively impacted the level of sales, which considerably affected financial stability. Likewise, internal difficulties of family nature and administrative management led to the change of senior management. By 2016, Juan Yáñez was appointed chief executive officer (CEO) and was in charge of avoiding the company’s closure. In January 2023, he received feedback from his consulting team, and upon evaluation of the new market challenges with his collaborators, he realized a great challenge that merited the search for a priority alternative solution. How to design a new product considering the loss of brand identity in the face of the generational change of its consumers? These were some of the challenges posed by the CEO that consequently required starting a strategic management process of innovation.

The teaching case is aimed at students of postgraduate academic programs in the areas of knowledge of innovation, product design, industrial design, marketing or MBA. In the modules of marketing, strategic management, brand management and strategic foresight, the case allowed for the orientation of the concepts of brand value or branding as well as the analysis of the value chain for the implementation of strategies that promote competitive advantages of companies. Similarly, in the modules of product or service design, creativity and innovation and complex thinking, the case allows one to approach a complex problem and apply creativity techniques for its solution.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 8 Marketing.

The case examines the role of IT in CEMEX, a giant Mexican building materials manufacturer in an industry categorized by low margins and high costs. In the early 1990s, CEMEX made significant investments in its IT systems, resulting in a data-based management operation that put it at the forefront of the industry. As the company grew through acquisitions, it integrated IT through “The CEMEX Way,” a set of standardized processes, organizations, and systems implemented on a common IT platform.

In 2007, when CEMEX acquired Rinker, a major Australian concrete company, aligning Rinker with CEMEX IT systems was critical to quickly streamline operations and realize efficiencies. The CIO of CEMEX had developed a new integration process called Processes & IT (P&IT) that he was considering using for the Rinker integration. However, P&IT required additional resources, including significant upfront fixed costs and investment in new personnel teams at a time when the company was already struggling with the integration of another acquisition. CEMEX could either align Rinker to The CEMEX Way or use the opportunity to invest significantly more in evolving to the new P&IT approach that focused on business process management.

The case focuses on brief elaboration, importance, objectives and components. While there are many ways to elaborate a brief, the overriding goal is to outline the most relevant guidelines for campaign design, and the decisions required to launch an advertising campaign.

This case may be used for the first marketing course in MBA curricula, as well as in executive education programs addressing communications and advertising strategy issues.

On a cold July afternoon in 2005, Matías Ruiz faced a difficult challenge. After months of long presentations and detailed discussions, the budget for a new advertising campaign had been finally approved. Ever since its arrival in Argentina, the company had concentrated all its efforts on positioning its corporate brand. Now with a firm standing in the domestic market, the time had come to advertise Lubrax, Petrobras' lubricant brand. Bearing in mind that the goal was to build a unique and independent brand identity for Lubrax while preserving its links to Petrobras, Ruiz's team, along with Diálogo Publicidad, a local advertising agency, had prepared three TV advertisements. Ruiz had to choose the most suitable campaign with an approved budget of US$ 3 million – 40 percent below the sum he had hoped to raise. At least one of those ads had to be launched in late October 2005, in time for the category's seasonal consumer sales peak. To do that, Ruiz needed to make a decision and to present a complete proposal to Lubrax's Marketing Director. This case study describes the questions confronting Ruiz at that time – Which ad should we pick? What brand image do we want for Lubrax? What is it that we wish to communicate? What is our goal? What segment are we addressing?

The case provides an insight into the use of advertising campaigns as a marketing tool, describing the company's competition, consumers, distribution channels and organizational hurdles. As a result, it may be used to help students: understand communications complexities, delving into each step in the process and taking stock of relevant decisions involved; learn about the research studies and data analyses required to build a communications plan that fits in with a company's strategy; manage a specific marketing budget; gain experience on advertising campaign development and subsequent evaluation; and survey the mix of marketing drivers needed to boost business sustainability. It will enable students to realize both the significance of thorough brief preparation to pursue a company's strategic goals and the importance of ensuring the ad chosen matches that brief.

Teaching notes are available; please contact your librarian for access.

In this case we describe the gradual transformation of India's largest private sector steel manufacturer Tata Steel that enabled it to win the coveted Deming Prize for quality. The case discusses how the company is able to maintain a relentless focus on meeting the customers' needs, sustain a culture for excellence in quality, build processes that empower the workers in taking decisions related to their area of work freely, instill leadership skills at all levels, and embed continuous improvement as part of their organizational culture.